The holidays are upon us. So much excitement, visiting friends, buying gifts and eating and eating and eating…Come January 1st, you’ve promised yourself you’ll get that weight off. But honestly – aren’t you tired of going on another miserable diet or being stuck at a plateau with weight that just won’t budge?It may feel like you’re destined to never see the scale budge into the lower numbers. Sure, you’ve lost weight before. So many times you could be an advertisement for “how to lose 20 pounds and gain back 30.” You wonder why that diet the celebrity was touting as the next sure thing just isn’t working for you. (Most celebrities get paid an average of 1 Million dollars to stick to their sponsors products. What would you do for a million dollars?!)While you got results on your diet before, it was just too hard to stick to it. If it was a no carb diet, you felt run down and tired because the body needs carbs for energy. A diet with no carbs is like trying to drive a car without gas. Impossible. If it was a liquid diet, you craved sinking your teeth into real food. So you’re doing real good until one day or night, you just can’t take it anymore, you’ve got to have food. Guess what? You’re normal. Your body was meant to consume food for energy, not liquid, not a crazy soup diet, or a fad diet that doesn’t give your body the nutrients it needs. So now your holiday dress is too tight and your jeans are not as comfortable as they once were. But you’re just not ready to buy bigger sizes. You see, I can relate because I’ve been there. First after having a baby and trying to lose the weight. I have to admit it was easier back then and I lost over 60 pounds. Now in menopausal age, the weight is glued to my butt and the extra weight causes hip pain. So I do what I did before thinking that it was rough, but worth it. Only thing is, in menopause you have to work different to lose weight. Notice I didn’t say harder, I said different....

It’s time to try something different... That means no high impact aerobics because you risk damaging your joints or starvation diets that make you feel like you could eat anything at the end of the day. You don’t need to move super-fast either, just at a fat burning moderate pace that includes weights integrated with breathing exercises throughout your workout. Adding weights and breathing exercises into your walking workout helps speed up your metabolism. Walking at a moderate pace helps you contract your muscles longer and firms you up faster with weight loss as the end result. This technique has worked on many clients and even myself. I just lost 9 pounds in 3 weeks alternating between The Get Stronger Bones DVD and the Total Strength and Conditioning DVD.

Notice I didn’t say lose 20 pounds in 21 days! As a rehab clinician who understands how the body works, I just can’t fathom all those ridiculous claims. Part of my medical training included an oath to do no harm and some claims I see on the internet are harmful and misleading. Most people search for fast weight loss, but how is that working? People who try to lose weight fast only find themselves gaining it back with extra weight. Lose the weight safely and it will stay off. Thanks for taking the time to be with a very important person – YOU.I lost 9 lbs of fat, one dress size and hip pain so far. Losing weight and losing fat are not one and the same. Both workouts are not crazy fast for a reason. To help you lose weight, build stronger bones, get firm and tone with medically proven moves...

The key is consistency and variety. Make sure to workout 5 days a week if you want to lose weight. Use weights every other day as you need to allow your muscles the day in between to repair. If you feel soreness, that means your muscles are getting stronger. The soreness disappears and so does the weight. Healthiest blessings!

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

Wow…what a week! I just wrapped up a video shoot and I’m taking time this weekend to focus on mindfulness and yoga. While a busy life can be energizing,balance is important in all things in life, including fitness. By acknowledging a natural ebb and flow in life, your body and mind will let you know it’s time for a balance check. This weekend,take a few minutes to sit quietly and be still. By doing so, you’ll be rewarded with more energy, creativity and joy

Stress is a messenger. Even though there’s a lot of talk about reducing and eliminating stress, it’s important to see it as a friendly emotion that reminds you about the need for balance in your life. When you view stress as a tool, it’s easier to make peace with it.

Stress is our body’s natural response to change in our environment, and the automatic fight-or-flight response that stress triggers is genetically coded within us. When you experience too much stress, though, hormones like cortisol and adrenaline flood your body and that can wreak havoc on your health.

Another reason you’d be doing your body a favor if you take stress down a notch is because your heart rate increases when you’re stressed, which leads to higher blood pressure and blood being shunted away from your stomach, causing poor digestion.

When stress taps you on the shoulder and says you need more balance in your life, it’s important to listen to it.

If you need more balance in your life, creating inner peace is easier than you might think. For me, nothing provides as much relief, energy, clarity, positive feelings, and an incredible feeling of rejuvenation than taking a minute to pause in stillness, and then stretch my body. Just those few seconds of stillness to mindfully connect with your body allows you to be your best self, and completely restore body and mind.

That’s why in the video above, I’ll guide you through a 2-minute relaxing stretching routine that will help you shed stress so you can replenish the vibrant energy within you.

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

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